Wawel Cathedral
The St. Stanislaw and Vaclav Cathedral in Krakow is the Episcopal Church of the Archdiocese of Kraków. It stands on the Wawel Hill.
History
At the site of the present church, there were two predecessors: the St. Wenceslas Cathedral in 1020 ( destroyed in 1038 by the Czech Břetislav ) and the 1142 consecrated three-nave Romanesque Cathedral with the grave of the holy bishop and martyr from Stanislaus Szczepanów. This building was destroyed by fire in 1305; only the St. Leonhard's crypt remained. A few years later began Bishop Nanker the construction of a Gothic cathedral. Since Krakow was the capital of Poland until 1609 and stood at Wawel Royal Castle, the Cathedral also served as a court church, and in the tomb kings of Poland were buried.
After the Middle Ages the cathedral were added several chapels. On the south wall of the Cathedral of Florence Bartholomeo Berrecci created the Sigismund Chapel (1517-1533) was commissioned by King Sigismund I the Elder. The domed chapel on a square plan is art-historically significant. There the grave sites of King Sigismund I and his children, King Sigismund II Augustus and Anna are Jagiellonica. By King Casimir IV Jagiello a vivid representation of his person on a Tumba by Veit Stoss is obtained. A grave stone of the artist Hermann Vischer the Younger recalls Cardinal Friedrich Jagiello. Another important monument is from Władysław I the Elbow- from the first half of the 14th century. In the Lady Chapel is the tomb of King Stephen Báthory, which was built around 1594 by the Italian sculptor Santi Gucci.
In Sigismund's Bell Tower, built in the second half of the 14th century as part of the fortifications, the venerable bell in Poland, " Zikmund " is called. Poland Holy Queen Jadwiga ( Hedwig of Poland) in 1399 buried in the cathedral. In the 17th century, the mausoleum of St in the crossing. Stanislaus built. In the 18th century, parts of the building and the interiors were given a Baroque. From 1964 to 1978, Karol Wojtyła had held the Chair of Cracow, who had also celebrated in the crypt Leonhard 1946 his first mass.
Equipment
The organ dates back to an instrument that was built in the period 1502-1506. Over time, the organ was repeatedly restored reorganized and extended. It has 32 stops on two manuals and pedal today.
- Coupling I / P, II / P